Online Messenger #297

Last week, in response to relentless pressure applied by Western Watersheds Project and our allies, the Idaho Bureau of Land Management (BLM) cancelled the permit for a predator killing “Derby” in central Idaho. Starting on January 2, 2015, up to 500 participants would compete to kill the most wolves, coyotes, and other animals in a competition for cash prizes. Stopping this disgrace on BLM lands was a big victory, but the Derby is still planned for the adjacent National Forest lands and it must be stopped!

Yesterday, we sent a letter to the Forest Service demanding that it halt its tacit approval of this event on the Salmon-Challis National Forest. The Forest Service isn’t requiring the event sponsor to have a permit, despite the fact that it requires special use permits for activities such as weddings and races that don’t entail slaughtering native wildlife!

Please, lend your voice and help us pressure the Forest Service into doing the right thing—informing the derby sponsors that they cannot use Forest Service land for the killing contest, period. At the very least, the agency should require a permit application disclosing the likely impact of the contest on forest lands.